1. Field
The following description relates to a surgical robot including a surgical instrument that may be switched between a bendable state and a rigid state.
2. Description of the Related Art
Minimally invasive surgery refers to surgical methods to minimize the size of an incision. Laparotomy uses a relatively large surgical incision through a part of a human body (e.g., the abdomen). However, in minimally invasive surgery, after forming at least one small port (or incision) of 0.5 cm˜1.5 cm through the abdominal wall, an operator inserts an endoscope and a variety of surgical instruments through the port, to perform surgery while viewing an image.
Compared to laparotomy, minimally invasive surgery has several advantages, such as low pain after surgery, early recovery, early restoration of ability to eat, short hospitalization, rapid return to daily life, and superior cosmetic effects due to a small incision. Accordingly, minimally invasive surgery has been used in gall resection, prostate cancer, and herniotomy operations, etc, and the use range thereof continues to expand.
In general, a surgical robot used in minimally invasive surgery includes a master device and a slave device. The master device generates a control signal corresponding to doctor manipulation to transmit the control signal to the slave device. The slave device receives the control signal from the master device to perform manipulation required for surgery of a patient. The master device and the slave device may be integrated with each other, or may be separately arranged in an operating room.
Examples of surgical robots include a multi-port surgical robot that forms a plurality of incisions in the body of a patient to insert a plurality of surgical instruments through the respective incisions in a one-to-one ratio, and a single-port surgical robot that forms a single incision in the body of the patient to insert a plurality of surgical instruments through the single incision at once. Here, the single-port surgical robot forms a single incision differently from the multi-port surgical robot and has been given more attention due to advantages of the narrow incision and early recovery. However, single-port surgery is not easy.